Method of making gold or other metal leaf impressions.



F. A. PUTNAM.

V METHOD OF MAKING GOLD OR OTHER METAL LEAF IMPRESSIONS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1-. 1915.

1,243,552. Patented Oct. 16, 1917;

Fig. 1.

lnvenTor Fred A. Putnam b 16 Maw rric,

METHOD 03! G GOLD OR OTHER METAL LEAF RESSIONS.

assessa- To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that 1, Free A. PUTNAM, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Melrose, county of Middlesex, State of Mash sachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Methods of Making Gold or other Metal Leaf Impressions, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawing is 'a specification, like Eh characters on the drawing representing like parts.

This invention relates to a process or method of applying gold or other metal leaf to leather, cloth, paper, or other similar material, and makin an impression thereon, and the object oft e invention is to provide a novel process for producing the gold or other metal leaf impression without the necessity of first sizing the material.

The method now most commonly practised in making gold or other metal leaf impressions on material, such as cloth, leather, aper, etc., consists in first applying a coat of sizing to the material, then layin the old or other metal leaf over the size portion. of the material and then applying a heated die to the metal leaf thereby causing the portion ofthe metal leaf with which the die contacts to adhere to the material 3% and make the metal leaf im ression. The disadvantage of this method is that the leaf is apt to stick to the sized material at places other than that at which the die member acts on the metal leaf, thus giving the im- $5 premion a somewhat smeared appearance and detracting from the clear-cut impression which is desirable. Another disadvantage is that to complete the impression requires that the metal leaf with which the die memso her has not contact shall be removed from the material and the performance of this operation entails more or less loss which is a considerable factor where the metal leaf is old leaf. H as 11 order to avoid the sizing of material before applying gold leaf thereto, it has been proposed to affix the gold leaf to a.

backing and then applying a coating of sizing to the gold lea so that when the imso pression is made, the sized gold leaf may be laid on the material and the heated die pressed a ainst the backing.

One 0' the advantages of this latter method is that there is no waste of the metal lea-f because after the impression has been Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 16, 191?.

Application filed June 1, 1915. Serial 1T0. 31,503.

made the metal leaf which is still retained on the backing can be easily recovered.

I have by my invention devised a new method of applying gold or other metal leaf to material which has none of the disadvantages of the first-named method and which has the above-named advantage of the second method and which has the further advantage that a more brilliant and lustrous impression can be made than by either of the above-mentioned methods.

In accordance with my method I apply the gold leaf to the material on which the impression is to be made and then I apply a coating of sizing etc the heated die and bring the sized heated die against the gold leaf with sufiicient ressure to make the desired impression. The gold leaf is very thin and more or less porous and the sizing on the die will penetrate the gold leaf sufficiently to cause the portions of the latter with which the die contacts to adhere firmly to the material.

In order to provide for the convenient handling of the gold leaf I may if desired so first mount the gold leaf on a backin of paper or other similar material, in ich case the die will be brought against the backing. The backing which I prefer to employ will be sufiiciently porous in charao- 5 ter so that the sizing on the die can easily penetrate it, thus providin for the transfor of the sizing to the go d leaf to cause the latter to adhere to the material.

In order to give a better understanding so of the invention lhave illustrated in the drawings more or less diagrammatically some of the steps of my improved process, and Figure 1 shows the gold leaf applied to the material;

Fig. 2 shows the step of applying sizing to the die member; 1

Fig. 3 shows the step of making the impress on.

Fig. 4 shows the gold leaf before it is applied to the material.

The material on which the impression is to be made is shown at 1 and this may be leather, cloth, paper or any other similar material. The gold leaf is shown at 2 and in the drawings I have shown this as applied to and supported by a backing 3 of porous material, such, for instance, as thin and porous paper. The purpose of the backing is merely to provide means for more conveniently handling the gold leaf, but the presence of the backing is not necessary to the practice of the invention.

l indicates a die member having the type characters 5 thereon by which the desired printed impression is made. This die member will preferably be heated by some suitable. means as usual when making gold leaf impressions.

In carrying out my method the gold leaf is applied to the material 1, as shown in Fig. 1, this being done without first apply ing a coating of sizing to the material. If the gold leaf 2 is supported by a backing 3 it will be placed on the material 1 with the gold leaf against the material and the backing exposed. When the gold leaf has been properly positioned on the material a coat ing of sizing is applied to the type characters 5 of the die member 4. This may be done in any suitable way and as illustrative of one method, I have shown a roll 6 which is adapted to pass across the type characters 5 and apply a coating of sizing thereto in a manner similar to that in which type characters are inked in an ordinary printing press. After the sizing is thus applied to the type characters the die is pressed against the gold leaf, and if the latter is sustained on a backing 3, the die will be brought against the backing, as shown in Fig. 3. During this operation the sizing which has been applied to the type characters 5 will penetrate the backing 3 and the gold leaf 2 sufficiently to cause the portions of the gold leaf against which the type characters press to adhere to the material.

I find that by applying the sizing to the die member, rather than to the material or to the gold leaf, a better and more clear-cut masses impression can be made and also that the impression is more lustrous and has a more burnished effect than is produced by the prior methods. With my improved method there is no danger that any portion of the gold leaf will adhere to the material except that with which the die member comes in contact, for the sizing will only be transferred to the portion of the gold leaf against which the die member acts. This results in the desirable clear-cut impression.

I claim:

1. The method of making a gold-leaf impression on unsized material which consists in applying gold leaf directly to the unsized material, applying a coating of sizing to a heated die member and then pressing the die member against the gold leaf whereby the sizing will penetrate the gold leaf and cause the portion of the latter against which the die member acts to adhere to the material.

2. The method of making a gold leaf impression on material to which no sizing has been applied, which consists in providing a sheet of gold leaf secured to a backing of porous paper, placing said sheet on the unsized surface of the material with the gold leaf resting against the face of the material and the paper backing exposed, applying a coating of sizing to a heated die member and then pressing the die member against the paper backing whereby the sizing will penetrate the backing and gold leaf and cause the portion of the gold leaf against which the die member acts to adhere to the unsized material.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

FRED A. PUTNAM. 

